Through the Universe
by allthewaytothegraveyard
Summary: A collection of oneshots written for the Through the Universe challenge at the Golden Snitch forum
1. After the War

Through the Universe Challenge

Prompt: 125. Parsec- (words) all the time in the world

Ilvermorny- Wampus

Words: 428

* * *

The war is over. It ended a month ago, but Harry still feels like he has to keep moving. He always did.

First to save the Philosopher's Stone in his first year. The basilisk in his second. Sirius escaped Azkaban in third, the Triwizard Tournament was in fourth. In fifth year, Voldemort came back. Then Dumbledore died and he had to search for the Horcruxes with Ron and Hermione.

He had expected to die. He knew Voldemort couldn't be defeated without a sacrifice, and he walked into the forest that night accepting his fate. But now Voldemort is dead, and Harry is alive, and he doesn't know what to do.

Ron and Hermione are happy. They have moved on from the war, but no matter how hard he tries, Harry is stuck in the past, in the only life he has known.

He sees Malfoy across the Great Hall sometimes. He doesn't look like he's moved on, either. His eyes are dark and haunted with ghosts of the war.

One day he is studying in the library and Malfoy sits down next to him. Neither say anything. Harry keeps working on his Charms essay, and Malfoy takes out his own work to do.

A week passes, and they still study at the table Harry has come to think of as theirs. They talk sometimes, only about homework. But Harry feels better with a companion.

One day, he gets to the library in a bad mood. Everyone is growing away from him- it is as if the war was the only thing holding their friend group together. He sits down at the table and Malfoy looks up.

"What's wrong?" he asks quietly, breaking their unspoken rule to only talk about classes. Harry shakes his head mutely.

"You can talk to me, you know," Malfoy persists. "I know we were enemies, but I've changed since the war. What happened?'

Harry finds himself speaking, spilling his thoughts out to Malfoy. How alone he feels, when everyone else has moved ahead. When they moved away from him. When he's done, Malfoy doesn't speak. He only looks at Harry with compassion in his eyes.

It isn't the last time they talk. The library becomes a refuge, a place where he doesn't have to worry about catching up with everyone else. He and Draco are friends, and sometimes Harry thinks it could be something more. Maybe it could. They don't have to decide now.

They have all the time in the world.


	2. Sunset

Through the Universe Challenge

Prompt: 181. Supermoon- (characters) werewolves

Ilvermorny- Wampus

Words: 259

* * *

_The sun is setting._

Two figures hurry across the grounds of Hogwarts. They reach the edge of the forest, and the taller one reaches out with a stick, poking a knot in the trunk of the tree that swings its branches at them. The tree freezes, and the smaller figure slips into a tunnel concealed by the tree's roots.

_The sun is setting._

In the boys' dorms at Gryffindor Tower, three boys glance at their friend's empty bed. They know by now where he is going, but they are helpless to protect him from the monster he becomes. Reluctantly, they go to bed, even though they know none of them will sleep tonight.

_The sun is setting._

In the village of Hogsmeade, people cast glances at the house on the hill. To them, it is known as the Shrieking Shack, haunted by vicious ghosts that growl and scream at night, on the days of the full moon. They stay inside as soon as the sun goes down, just in case the creature inside gets out.

_The sun is setting._

A small boy enters a room full of destroyed furniture and scratches on the walls. The furniture keeps the wolf busy. It will tear at the chairs and not hurt itself as much. Still, the day after the full moon, the boy will wake up with new injuries. More scars marring his skin. He knows the monster that takes over, and what it will do.

_The moon is rising._

The creature in the Shack lets out a howl.


	3. The Longbottoms

Through the Universe Challenge

Prompt: 144. Quasi-Stellar Object- (words) a thousand miles away

Ilvermorny- Wampus

Words: 257

* * *

Neville follows his grandmother through the halls of St. Mungo's. The doors to the Janus Thickey ward open in front of them. Immediately, he spots his parents sitting on their beds. Their eyes are vacant and dull, no hint of their old personalities left. This is what the Cruciatus Curse has done.

Neville knows the story of how the Lestranges tortured them. He's met members of the old Order of the Phoenix. They knew his parents when he never did, and try to comfort him.

_Your parents were so brave._

Neville's tired of hearing those words. He wishes they weren't, so they would still be sane. So they could live with him like a proper family. So his grandmother would stop comparing him to his father. He's never enough. Not compared to his parents, who risked their lives in the war, who withstood the Cruciatus Curse.

Neville likes to escape to the greenhouses. Plants don't talk, or judge him. He cares for them, quietly and dutifully, and they grow. Something he can do, something he's good at. It's comforting to just forget.

But Neville doesn't leave them behind. They cared for him, and he believes that somewhere, in the back of their minds, they still recognize him. It's why his father smiles at him, and his mother hands him empty wrappers of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum that he saves every time.

He believes they still see him, even if their minds are a thousand miles away.


	4. Redo

Through the Universe Challenge

Prompt: 163. Solar Eclipse- (words) to meet you again

Ilvermorny- Wampus

Words: 195

* * *

I wish I could meet you again.

I know now how stupid I was, when I saw you on the Hogwarts Express. I thought of you only as the Boy Who Lived- a great ally to have. Father would be proud.

But you rejected my offer of friendship, choosing Weasley over me. I thought that was ridiculous. After all, the Weasleys are all poor and unimportant in the Ministry. I didn't realize there were more important things.

We were enemies through all our years at Hogwarts. It seemed so important, to make you regret refusing my friendship. But you were still happy with all you Gryffindor friends. And I was alone, and jealous.

I wish I was smarter then. Smart enough to know real friends are worth more than people you can control.

I'd like to apologize for everything. I know it's not enough to make up for years of bullying, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry.

I would go back and change things if I could. I would do it all over, but better. I wish I could redo my life

I wish I could meet you again.


	5. Blue Eyes

Through the Universe Challenge

Prompt: 143. Quasar- (word) twinkle

Ilvermorny- Wampus

Words: 404

* * *

Harry's first sight of Professor Dumbledore is short. A glance up at the Head Table as he makes a short speech, soon forgotten as his scar burns. He doesn't see Dumbledore much that year. Then it's the end of the year, he's saved the Philosopher's Stone he wakes up in the hospital wing, and the first thing he sees when he wakes up are those twinkling blue eyes.

In his second year, Harry killed the basilisk and saved Ginny Weasley. When he shows the diary to Dumbledore, he sees his eyes narrow. The twinkling light in them is gone, replaced by determination. He knows more than he seems to.

It's Harry's third year, and he's in the hospital wing with Hermione and Ron. "You need more _time_," Dumbledore says, eyes twinkling mischievously. Hermione understands and pulls out her Time-Turner, and the last thing Harry sees before being pulled through time is Dumbledore's bright blue eyes.

Harry slams into the ground, Cedric's body rolling away from him. He's only barely escaped the Death Eaters after Voldemort's resurrection. He sits in Dumbledore's office, shaken, and recounts the story, watching Dumbledore's eyes darken as he hears of what has happened.

Fifth year, and Dumbledore won't look at him. After he dreams of Nagini's attack on Mr. Weasley, he tries to get Dumbledore to meet his eyes- but fails. Dumbledore looks everywhere but at him. He can't ask him for help anymore, so he goes to the Ministry with his friends to save Sirius.

Dumbledore's eyes are dull from the potion. Harry hated giving it to him, hated how he reacted- but he had made a promise. He watched, immobilized beneath the Invisibility Cloak, as Snape says "Avada Kedavra" and Dumbledore flies off the tower, the light in his eyes gone.

Harry is in the basement of Malfoy Manor. Hermione is being tortured upstairs. He pulls out his last hope- the mirror from Sirius- and whispers, "Help us". A twinkling blue eye shines back, the same eyes as Professor Dumbledore. And they are saved.

Harry is in the Hog's Head, facing Aberforth Dumbledore. He is defending Dumbledore from his brother's accusations, but the more he thought about it, the truer Aberforth's arguments seem.

He sees the twinkling blue eyes again.

And now he sees the truth.


	6. Curious

Through the Universe Challenge

Prompt: 89. Kelvin- (setting) Ollivander's Wand Shop

Ilvermorny- Wampus

Words: 265

* * *

Garrick Ollivander sits in his dark, dusty shop. He can remember each wand he has sold, as if it happened only yesterday. The wand chooses the wizard- and he has sold many great wands that have gone on to do great and terrible things. He remembers the two wands with twin cores, and the boys they chose.

_Tom Riddle enters Ollivanders. He is alone, and confident in his own independence. Ollivander hands him many wands, as he always does, before settling on one. Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. A phoenix feather core from the tail of Albus Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes. A powerful wand, dentined to do great things. But Ollivander sees the darkness in his eyes, a potential for Dark magic and a desire for power, and hopes it will not lead him astray._

_Harry Potter enters Ollivanders accompanied by Rubeus Hagrid. The half-giant, yes, Ollivander remembers his wand too. And he remembers Harry's parents' wands. But now is the time for a new wand to find its master, so Ollivander turns to the boxes and hands the boy wands to try. It takes longer to find the right one than any other time, but at last he finds a perfect match. Eleven inches. Holly. A phoenix feather core- a feather from the same phoenix as Tom Riddle's wand. The rare case where a phoenix gave two feathers, and it connects the two of them, of all people._

"Curious," Ollivander had said. "Curious."

But now he thinks about it, and decides that maybe it's not so curious after all.


	7. Luna Not Loony

Through the Universe Challenge

Prompt: 64. extragalactic- (word) loony

Ilvermorny- Wampus

Words: 300

* * *

Luna Lovegood has lived with her father all her life. He taught her many things, about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and Blibbering Humdingers and Nargles. When Luna is Sorted into Ravenclaw House, she is happy. She can learn magic and explore the forest and see the magical creatures.

But the others do not welcome her. When she tries to talk to them about Wrackspurts or the Rotfang Conspiracy, they laugh and turn away. Luna goes to the forest to escape their teasing and see the animals. She likes the thestrals most of all. Like her, they are misunderstood. People see them as omens of death, but they are amazingly clever creatures that take Luna deep into the forest, away from the teasing of her Housemates.

But it doesn't stop at teasing. Luna's books are stolen, and her shoes, so she walks barefoot most of the time. They always come back in the end, though, so she doesn't see a problem. She's happy enough as Loony Lovegood, the strange girl who believes in imaginary creatures.

Then Dumbledore's Army starts, and she has friends. Ginny defends her against the bullies and Harry is nice to her, too. They don't really understand her world, but they're kind enough to try. To them, she's Luna, not Loony.

Luna is happy. She is left alone by the other Ravenclaws, which is fine, because she can just spend more time with the animals. She has friends who help her and listen to her when she talks about Nargles and Crumple- Horned Snorkacks. She is not Loony anymore. She is Luna Lovegood.

She holds that happy thought in her mind and waves her wand, saying "_Expecto Patronum_".

A silver hare flies out of her wand and bounds ahead of her.


	8. Regulus of the Blacks

Through the Universe Challenge

Prompt: 190. Telescope- (setting) Astronomy Tower

Ilvermorny- Wampus

Words: 270

* * *

Regulus sits at the edge of the Astronomy Tower, dangling his legs over the edge. The leaves of the trees in the Forbidden Forest below were turning orange and red, setting the world on fire. His fourth year at Hogwarts was exactly the same, with his same classes and same friends in Slytherin. But it still felt different after Sirius left over the summer. His brother had never gotten along with their parents, but they had never beaten him as badly as they did that summer. Sirius left immediately after to stay with a friend. Their parents let him.

Regulus later overheard a conversation between his parents. He remembers the one piece of information he got from it. Sirius wrote a letter to his friend apologizing for something he did. In the letter, he revealed that his friend was a werewolf. Werewolves were not worth being friends with. No Black would ever associate with one.

Regulus knows now what happened. He admires his brother for being brave, for being a Gryffindor, for daring to defy their parents. But Regulus cannot be brave. He is a good Slytherin, a good pureblood. He will grow up and become a Death Eater and if he regrets anything, he will not show it.

Regulus can't be a Gryffindor. He can't be different. He obeys his parents and the Dark Lord out of fear, and he will most likely die in fear, for a cause he doesn't believe in.

But Regulus isn't Sirius. He can't be Sirius.

Regulus sits at the edge of the Tower and watches the leaves fall.


	9. Grimmauld Place

Through the Universe Challenge

Prompt: 184. Supernova- (words) tojours pur

Ilvermorny- Wampus

Words: 307

* * *

Along a street in London, there is a house squeezed between two others. The lights are always off and the rooms are empty, abandoned by all its former occupants.

It holds memories of a family that lived there once. The Blacks, a Dark pureblood family. Their possessions are still in their bedrooms, the heirlooms in the cabinet in the drawing room. But the house is not quite the same. The curtains are infested with doxies, which the old house elf, Kreacher, has done nothing about. The house still tells the stories of its last occupants, and it always will.

Here is the room where Orion and Walburga Black lived. It is decorated in dark colors, and silver, with emblems of snakes decorating the walls and furniture. This is the room of Dark wizards, blood purists, Slytherins.

Here is the room where Regulus Black lived. It is dark like his parents' room, but decorated with pictures of his friends and his Quidditch team. There are green and silver hangings. This is the room of an obedient son, a Slytherin.

Here is the room where Sirius Black lived. It is decorated in bright red and gold and pictures of his friends, attached to the walls with Permanent Sticking Charms so they cannot be taken off. Gryffindor crests, so unlike the rest of the house, show defiance to his parents. This is the room of a Gryffindor, a Marauder.

Hanging in the drawing room is a large tapestry. It shows the family tree of the entire Black family. There are Orion and Walburga, connected by a thin line. There's Regulus beneath them. And there's the burnt spot where Sirius's name used to be, before he ran away. And at the top of the tapestry, there are words.

The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Tojours Pur.


End file.
